Dan Liljenquist Goes Green

After playing a very passive role in this past legislative session, yesterday I had the opportunity to go listen to our state senate leader, Dan Liljenquist, speak. I was a little concerned about going, because I know the group he was speaking to is what I consider very extreme, and I don't exactly align all my views with them. But the senator was much more realistic, and I think he did a great job in dispelling a lot of myths. The topic he was given was "Virtue in Politics." Seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it? It was neat to get an insiders perspective of some of the things that have been going on in a couple of our congressman's private lives. How come when we elect someone to represent us we expect perfection from them? Is that how we behave? I just kept thinking, "let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

Yesterday's festivities also included celebrating St. Patrick's Day. This is not a holiday on my list of holidays required to celebrate. But the girls got excited. You know I always get discouraged with making special meals, because that usually involves tons of sugar and flour and things we just don't need. But then I got thinking of all the green foods I love: green smoothies, salads, celery, green peppers, zucchini, and I got a little excited. I finally found a way to celebrate in a healthy way! I didn't want to overdo it, because then I prepare way more food than we can possibly eat so we just had some spinach tortellini with a pesto dipping sauce, broccoli with a garlic butter, and some deviled eggs that I just pureed some spinach and added that to the yolk mixture to turn it green. I was not going to use food coloring! I think it turned out nice. Sophie devoured the broccoli. I think she had 3 servings, and I even got a compliment out of her. Chloe preferred the eggs, but don't tell her there was spinach in it! We gobbled it up so quickly I didn't even think of getting a picture, but you can imagine a plate full of green.

After dinner the girls got up and vounteered to do the dishes. Chloe washed and Sophie dried. They did it as a way to earn a game of kickball afterwards. The weather is turning nice, so it was fun to get outside and kick a ball around for a bit.